Saving fun for a boring future

We discuss how experiences that fill a future waiting period, such as focusing on fun or boring future activities, affect intertemporal choices. We propose that savoring, the positive utility derived from anticipating future pleasant outcomes, is more likely to have an impact on intertemporal choices when the future seems boring than when it seems fun. We provide empirical evidence that people who foresee a busy future full of boring activities are more likely to prefer to delay rewards than people who foresee a future not so busy with boring activities

Does the Use of Facebook Lead to Purchases?

The ability of social media to attract large numbers of people around the world also makes these websites a platform of interest for advertisers. While these sites were hesitant at first to ‘sell out’ to massive amounts of advertising, advertising has produced for them a major revenue stream. However, an issue is whether the use of social media leads people to purchase. This paper will analyse the results of a survey of 169 Facebook users to determine the predictors for a purchase based on information from Facebook. The findings indicate that Facebook engagement, seeking friends, seeking information and gender are the main predictors of purchase

Relational Orientation versus Firm Orientation: Want versus Should

This paper provides insights into employee decision making when there is a conflict between doing what is best for the firm (firm orientation) and doing what is best for one s interpersonal relationship with an external stakeholder representative (relational orientation). We apply construal level theory (Liberman and Trope, 1998; Trope and Liberman, 2003) to propose a framework that explains the effects of psychological distance dimensions on an employee's choice to act either in the best interests of their interpersonal relationships (what they want to do), or their firm (what they should do)

How social media can afford engagement processes

The increasing popularity of social media has led many organizations to find new ways of customer engagement. This paper presents an initial pilot study to explore the affordance of social media in engagement processes. By applying the affordance theory and Porter’s process for engagement model, we used a case study approach to examine the case company’s Facebook and Twitter content to identify the engagement possibilities of social media. Our preliminary results show that social media opens a new channel for organisations to engage with their customers. We present a preliminary theoretical model to understand the how the functional affordances of social media are socialised in engagement processes, which ultimately gives rise to socialised affordances

Consumption of marketer-generated content: Consumers as curators of marketing messages that they consume on social media

Purpose This paper aims to understand how structural characteristics of social media enable consumers to satisfy needs related to marketer-generated content (MGC) and identify the consequences of consumer exposure to MGC. Design/methodology/approach This paper revisits research on antecedents and consequences of advertising consumption to build an emergent conceptual model applied to MGC through the investigation of consumer experiences in social media. Thirty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers who follow brands on Instagram. The interview transcripts were coded and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Findings This study finds that, structurally, MGC consumption is characterised by the combination of: consumer micro-control over both content and timing/place of consumption and ease of consumption, enabling consumers to seek pleasure and utility without effort. The data show that MGC is only likely to be shared to a restricted group with strong social connections, such as family members and close friends with similar interests, with whom new interactions develop over brands and products, online or in person. MGC consumption experiences also generate significant consumer learning that improves purchase outcomes for consumers. Three types of MGC consumers were identified in the data: “enthusiasts”, “circumstantial” and “occasional”. Research limitations/implications This study updates previous literature, offering a conceptual framework that specifies how the structural characteristics of social media are conducive to consumer exposure to self-curated MGC flows. This research also uncovers unique social dynamics and consumer learning related to MGC consumption. Practical implications Insights from this study suggest alternative business models that may be attractive for consumers, brands and social media platforms. This research also suggests ways in which brands can improve consumer MGC experiences. Originality/value This research demonstrates how and why consumers embrace MGC at scale through social media and reveals consequences of MGC consumption. </jats:sec

Post language and user engagement in online content communities

© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. PurposeThis study aims to uncover relationships between content communities post language, such as parts of speech, and user engagement. Design/methodology/approachAnalyses of almost 12,000 posts from the content community Reddit are undertaken. First, posts’ titles are subjected to electronic classification and subsequent counting of main parts of speech and other language elements. Then, statistical models are built to examine the relationships between these elements and user engagement, controlling for variables identified in previous research. FindingsThe number of adjectives and nouns, adverbs, pronouns, punctuation (exclamation marks, quotation marks and ellipses), question marks, advisory words (should, shall, must and have to) and complexity indicators that appear in content community posts’ titles relate to post popularity (scores: number of favourable minus unfavourable votes) and number of comments. However, these relationships vary according to the category, for example, text-based categories (e.g. Politics and World News) vs image-based ones (e.g. Pictures). Research limitations/implicationsWhile the relationships uncovered are appealing, this research is correlational, so causality cannot be implied. Practical implicationsAmong other implications, companies may tailor their own content community post titles to match the types of language related to higher user engagement in a particular category. Companies may also provide advice to brand ambassadors on how to make better use of language to increase user engagement. Originality/valueThis paper shows that language features add explained variance to models of online engagement variables, providing significant contribution to both language and social media researchers and practitioners

Motivations to use social media: effects on the perceived informativeness, entertainment, and intrusiveness of paid mobile advertising

By looking at specific motivations for social media use as general action or inaction goals, this research provides a cognitive account of their effects on perceptions of paid advertising on smartphones. Results across two studies show that specific motivations with an overarching action goal (i.e. seeking information, seeking excitement, and seeking emotional support) relate positively to perceptions of advertising entertainment, while those with an overarching inaction goal (i.e. seeking relaxation) relate negatively to perceptions of advertising entertainment. In addition, the motivation to seek information from social media relates positively to perceptions of advertising informativeness. Perceptions of both advertising informativeness and advertising entertainment relate negatively to perceptions of advertising intrusiveness, leading to indirect effects of specific motivations on intrusiveness. Direct effects of specific motivations on intrusiveness are minimal

Gender differences in motivations to use social networking sites

© 2019 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. This chapter investigates gender differences in motivations to use social networking sites (SNS), a subset of social media. The present research focuses on Facebook given its prominence among currently available SNS. Analysing a survey of university students in Australia, the results indicate that female consumers are more likely than male consumers to use Facebook to seek information (to research and learn new things and to discuss products and brands) and for convenience (to obtain things with little effort). Both of these reasons in turn relate positively to their degree of engagement on Facebook, where engagement is operationalized as cognitive absorption which is a state of deep involvement with an activity

Gender Differences in Motivations to Use Social Networking Sites

This chapter investigates gender differences in motivations to use social networking sites (SNS), a subset of social media. The present research focuses on Facebook given its prominence among currently available SNS. Analysing a survey of university students in Australia, the results indicate that female consumers are more likely than male consumers to use Facebook to seek information (to research and learn new things and to discuss products and brands) and for convenience (to obtain things with little effort). Both of these reasons in turn relate positively to their degree of engagement on Facebook, where engagement is operationalized as cognitive absorption which is a state of deep involvement with an activity

Does Individual Ambidexterity and Career Experience Help Technological Startup Founders Acquire Funding?

In an extension of the entrepreneurship literature&#x0027;s long-standing emphasis on the role of human capital in attracting startup funding, we propose that tech-based startup founder&#x2019;s ambidexterity and experience-based human capital have direct and interactive effects on new venture funding. Drawing on the human capital perspective, we consider ambidexterity an ability-based human capital that helps entrepreneurs navigate new venture environments and carry out entrepreneurial tasks more effectively. We compiled a unique dataset by gathering data from Crunchbase, social media sites, and entrepreneur&#x2019;s online communications posted on Reddit. On the basis of text analyses on 115 startup founder&#x2019;s public discourse using a purpose-built dictionary to measure ambidexterity, our empirical results confirm that founder ambidexterity has positive effects on tech startup funding and that these effects are moderated by founder&#x2019;s experience-based human capital in terms of prior career experience and startup creation experience. This finding is complemented by semistructured interviews with venture capitalists providing evidence that funders consider founder ambidexterity in their investment decisions. Implications for literature and practice are discussed